Head of coaching praises Under-18s' will to win
Ian Dawes believes Shrewsbury Town’s youth team showed good game management in their 1-0 friendly win against Burton Albion on Saturday.Town’s Under-18s concluded their pre-season schedule with victory at Lilleshall National Sports Centre thanks to a stunning strike from Josh Ginnelly, while goalkeeper Harry Lewis also saved a penalty.
The young Shrews held on for over half an hour after Ginnelly’s goal and Ian, head of coaching, praised his side for the way saw out the final period of the match.
“The result was good, we managed the game towards the end really well and saw the game out,” said Ian.
“The performance wasn’t as good as we have been but there are still some good signs of us developing as a team.
“Winning is a part of the game and our development, and we managed that side of the game well.”
Ian was delighted with goalkeeper Lewis’ role in the win, with the goalkeeper pulling off saves in the first half and most importantly saving a penalty after giving it away.
“It kept us in the game (the penalty save) and was a big turning point,” said Ian.
“Harry’s done really well to pull off a save and he helped us out with a couple of other saves in the first half.”
Town’s head of youth coaching reserved similar praise for match-winner Ginnelly, who added to his brilliant solo goal against Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday with another unstoppable strike.
“It was a great individual goal from someone who has had an appearance in the first team recently, so he’s hungry to improve and impress,” said Ian.
The young Shrews begin their Football League Youth Alliance (North West) league campaign at home to Fleetwood Town next, on Saturday 2 August (11am kick-off at Lilleshall NSC).
And Ian believes that, despite having played three times in the last week, his side will be fit and ready to take on the young Cod Army.
“We’ve had a difficult week fitness-wise because we’ve had three games in a week,” said Ian.
“Now we settle down on Monday and have a full week of training to prepare for Saturday’s game against Fleetwood.”